Hyundai UK migrates to Exchange 2010

Carmaker uses load balancing to minimise disruption

Hyundai UK has migrated to Microsoft Exchange 2010 with the help of a load balancing system to ensure uninterrupted email to its staff.

The Exchange system supports 200 users split between three sites as well as the remote field team that looks after the Hyundai dealership network. In addition to the company's headquarters and training academy in High Wycombe, Hyundai has the largest site at Tilbury East London Docks, where it processes over 65,000 imported vehicles per year.

To run the Microsoft Exchange 2010 platform, the Hyundai IT team built two virtual Exchange servers based on VMware, which required a hardware load balancer to ensure optimised performance. The company used the LoadMaster 2200 appliance from KEMP Technologies.

Hyundai configured the new email service over a weekend with no loss of email. In addition to load balancing, the LoadMaster 2200 also provides built-in SSL acceleration to offload a key source of CPU drain from the client access servers, and allows one server to be taken off-line for maintenance without losing overall performance.

"Load balancing is a core part of our Exchange 2010 solution now and into the future as the business in the UK continues to expand," said OJ Chakrabarti, systems and infrastructure manager at Hyundai Motor UK.

The LoadMaster ensures that should one of the servers become inaccessible, it will take that server off-line while automatically re-routing and reconnecting users to other functioning servers.